Things always slow down a bit in the midst of the major theatrical tentpoles.
8 Million Ways to Die | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Airplane franchise | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Season 1 Vol. 5 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Anchorman / Anchorman 2 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Big O | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Alex: The DVD re-release of this was covered last week. | ||||||||
Bird with the Crysal Plumage | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Giallo film by Dario Argento. | ||||||||
Car Wash | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Colony: Season Two | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Congo | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Dragon Ball Z Kai: Final Chapters Part Three | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Everybody Loves Somebody | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Geronimo Stilton: Season 1 Vol. 5 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Hack-O-Lantern (Halloween Night) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Himouto Umaru-Chan | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Island of Terror | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Joe Versus the Volcano | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Josie and the Pussycats: The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Kong: Skull Island | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Available on physical media July 18, 2017 | ||||||||
Lawnmower Man | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | The Jim Carrey movie, not the Netflix series | ||||||||
Life | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Marseille Trilogy (Criterion Collection) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Includes Marius, Fanny, and Cesar. | ||||||||
A Midsummer Night’s Dream | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Stage adaptation of the Shakespeare Play directed by Julie Taymor (Broadway version of The Lion King, and the screen adaptations of Titus Androicus and The Tempest) | ||||||||
Naked Gun Trilogy | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Naruto – Shippuden: The Movie 5 – Blood Prison | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Nature: Forest of the Lynx | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Nature: Hotel Armadillo | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Norn9: Norn + Nonette | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Nova: Chinese Chariot Revealed | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage One | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Ozzy and Drix: The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Blaine: Based on the cover art, this appears to be a TV spinoff of Osmosis Jones. | ||||||||
Paul Naschy Collection | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show: Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Ping Pong the Animation: The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Anime series about a Ping Pong club (that is different from the actual “Ping Pong Club anime). | ||||||||
Railroad Tigers | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Sailor Moon S Part 2 (Season 3) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Seven Deadly Sins: Season One, Part Two | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Smurfs: The First Season | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Smurfs: The Lost Village | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Available on physical media July 11 | ||||||||
Stealing Charlie Chaplin | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Tag (Riaru Onigokko) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Tales from the Crypt | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Ten Little Indians | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
This Beautiful Fantastic | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Thunderbird 6 / Thunderbirds are Go! Double Feature | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Transformers: Rescue Bots | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Under the Dome: The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Wilson | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Workaholics | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Zookeeper’s Wife | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Finally, the picks of the week. Alex says, “I’ve already pre-ordered Big O.” Blaine says, “I’d go with the economical Blu-Ray upgrades for Airplane or the Naked Gun movies, depending upon what you already own.”
Hey, how was Life?
The reviews seem to be pretty much in the middle (54 on Metacritic). There’s a fan theory that this is a back-door origin film for Venom (Columbia Pictures made this and owns the rights to the Spider-Man films). So, there’s that.
If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the film – give or take some FX (which is good, but not exceptional). There’s no real ethical/moral question being pondered, it’s a simple case of they wake it up, and it then proceeds to grow from cute jelly-Groot to killing machine, breaking down successive levels of containment and (naturally) killing the crew in gruesome ways as it goes. Not very original and, other than the improved FX, well short of the levels set by Alien or The Thing. The inevitable final act jeopardy is a pretty simple binary outcome whose possible resolutions are obvious from almost the second they set it up with the last two survivors going in opposite directions – about as exciting as a coin toss.
54 on Metacritic sounds about right; it’s an average film, so if you’re into that kind of film and don’t set your expectations too high you’ll probably enjoy it but, personally, if I was in the mood for a alien survival/horror movie I’d be more likely to dust off Alien or The Thing than track down Life.
> If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the film
This is why I don’t watch trailers… and why I’m not reading the rest of your comment because from the first few words it seems pretty spoilerific!
Some minor spoilers if you’ve not seen the trailer but no major reveals unless you have no idea at all what the film is about beyond the basic premise of a sample that might contain evidence of life being brought back from Mars and it’s tagline. If you know what happens to that sample (pretty obvious given the tagline), or the two films it particularly draws on, then it should be safe to read unless you are especially spoilerphobic. At least I hope so, because that was what I was aiming for. :)
Those other two films are far superior IMO – I thought Life was only average; very predicatable, not very scary, and probably only worth watching if that type of film is your thing.
> Some minor spoilers if you’ve not seen the trailer but no major reveals unless you have no idea at all what the film is about beyond the basic premise of a sample that might contain evidence of life being brought back from Mars and it’s tagline.
Yup, I didn’t know any of that! Seriously, avoiding spoilers is kind of my superpower… which means you have successfully kryptonited me…
Joe vs the Volcano is the best Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film. There, I said it.